The 30th Infantry Division moved across the Seine to assist the 79th Division in extending their bridgehead, today 27 August, 1944. The attack began at 16:00.
As I’ve been researching and reconstructing my grandfather’s WWII experiences, several books and references have been of particular help:
- Ernie Pyle’s Brave Men collects Pyle’s columns from 1943-1944. A well respected combat journalist, Pyle “embedded” with various units for a week or two at a time and described their daily routine and the difficult circumstances under which they operated.
- Stephen Ambrose’s Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany similarly focuses on the experience of the combat infantryman, with the benefit of being able to place their experiences in the full historical context.
- The entire text of Martin Blumenson’s Breakout and Pursuit (Washington, D.C., U.S. Army, 1961) is available online.
- The Cross Of Lorraine, A Combat History Of The 79th Infantry Division (Divisional Series) has proved very helpful in finding details.
- Although the Paul Farnum’s 79th Infantry Division was a distant spectator to the events, Collins’ and Lapierre’s Is Paris Burning? tells the remarkable story of the liberation of Paris and the city’s narrow escape from an intended demolition.
